Another Bidder for Atlus Surfaces: J Trust

Another Bidder for Atlus Surfaces: J Trust

Another bidder came out in the open in the war for the acquisition of Atlus (through its parent company Index Corporation). This time around we’re talking about J Trust, a Tokyo-based financial services firm that already made a bid during the preliminary auction and that aims to use funds raised through record rights to acquire the software developer and publisher.

Despite the fact that J Trust isn’t exactly a known name between gamers, it doesn’t lack the cash to make it through, as last month it raised 97.7 billion yen in Japan’s biggest-ever record rights sale. According to previous information the biggest offer during the preliminary auction for Atlus was about 20 billion yen.

Chief Executive Officer Nobuyoshi Fujisawa said in an interview that the company can spend 130 billion yen in cash buyouts without requiring external support, and also explained one of the reasons behind the bid:

It’s a good idea to buy companies that do communication and application businesses for smartphones and tap their client bases to market our financial services.

While that statement honestly chilled my bones, J Trust seems to be a solid competitor, at least financially. We’ll have to see how things will develop from here on, but this is one to watch.